Biker Friendly

On Saturday April 18, a section of the Bayshore Bikeway was officially opened. The new bike path, built atop the levee formerly occupied by the old San Diego & Arizona Eastern railway tracks, stretches a little over a mile and utilizes two new bridges. The bridges span the remains of the wooden trestles built in 1919, which are preserved underneath.

The new path connects the north end of 13th Street in Imperial Beach with Frontage Road/Bay Boulevard in Chula Vista. Before the addition, a cyclist desiring to make a counter-clockwise loop around the bay starting at 13th Street faced some challenges.

It had been necessary to ride in the opposite direction — south on 13th for two blocks, left on Palm, east for six blocks, then left again on Saturn Boulevard/19th Street for two blocks — to reach a bike path just north of the Southland Plaza Shopping Center. These streets are “bike routes” with some “bike lanes” that pass through busy, traffic-signal-controlled intersections (rather than separate, safer “bike paths”).

Although the official “start” of the 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway is the ferry terminal near Broadway and North Harbor Drive in San Diego, many undertake the loop by parking at the end of 13th Street and setting out east in a counterclockwise direction. By doing so, they avoid fighting a headwind on the Coronado Strand at the beginning, but instead enjoy that same prevailing sea breeze at their back on the final leg south.

Allow six to seven hours (depending upon when you arrive at the ferry landing for the ride across the bay) to complete a leisurely trip around the entire Bayshore Bikeway.